Public Transit Bus Procurement: The Role of Energy Prices, Regulation and Federal Subsidies / Shanjun Li, Matthew E. Kahn, Jerry Nickelsburg.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Li, Shanjun.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Kahn, Matthew E.

Nickelsburg, Jerry.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w19964.

NBER working paper series no. w19964

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Public Transit Bus Procurement

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2014.

Summary:

The U.S. public transit system represents a multi-billion dollar industry that provides essential transit services to millions of urban residents. We study the market for new transit buses that features a set of non-profit transit agencies purchasing buses primarily from a few domestic bus makers. Unlike private vehicles, the fuel economy of public buses is irresponsive to fuel price changes. To understand this finding, we build a model of bus fleet management decisions of local transit agencies that yields testable hypotheses. Our empirical analysis of bus fleet turnover and capital investment suggests that transit agencies: (1) do not respond to energy prices in either their scrappage or purchase decisions; (2) respond to environmental regulations by scrapping diesel buses earlier and switch to natural gas buses; (3) prefer purchasing buses from manufacturers whose assembly plants are located in the same state; (4) exhibit significant brand loyalty or lock-in effects; (5) favor domestically produced buses when they have access to more federal funding.

Notes:

Print version record

March 2014.